News
Virgin Mobile Wins Award for Best UK Mobile Marketing Campaign
24/03/2000
Virgin Mobile soundly beat Orange to the title as the company with the best mobile phone marketing in Britain last night.
It won the award for 'Best National Advertising, PR and Marketing Campaign' at the mobile industry's prestigious annual awards, organised by Mobile News magazine.
The award praised Virgin Mobile's launch campaign which involved Sir Richard Branson posing with seven nude models in a giant see-through mobile phone in London's Leicester Square. The launch PR attracted massive press, radio and TV coverage nationally and abroad, and was backed with a £5million marketing campaign involving a number of integrated activities across press, posters, radio, TV, and the internet.
Virgin Mobile drew on the expertise of its marketing agencies, Consolidated Communications, Big-Mouths.com, Start Design, Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R, Manning Gottlieb Media and Harrison Patten Troughton Brand Response.
One judge said, "It was the only campaign in which I instantly recognised the brand and remembered it as Virgin. Simple. But v.clear and v.funny."
Costing much less than rivals' campaigns, it produced sales 50 per cent above target and quickly established the brand of Sir Richard Branson's new business in the mobile market at its busiest time of year.
Virgin Mobile's Brand Director James Kydd said: 'We're delighted to have pipped Orange. We didn't have their big bucks, but with clever thinking we created a striking and memorable campaign which has got our business off to a flying start.'
Virgin Mobile was also a finalist in the Innovative Service award for its revolutionary reducing tariff and catch-free service.
The award is Virgin's second since it launched just over four months ago. In February Virgin Mobile won an award at the Advanced Card awards for Virgin Xtras, which allow customers to access a range of services from booking holidays to listening to and ordering CDs - all at money-saving discounts.
